Tea and Sympathy
by Unspoken Tragedy
Summary: “No, Molly.” He looked into her eyes for the first time the entire night. “I’ve taken care of every other time myself I will be perfectly alright doing so right now.” Ever wondered why Molly trusts Severus more than the rest of the Order does?


**Title: Tea and Sympathy**

**Author: Unspoken Tragedy**

**Rating: PG-13 for some blood**

**Spoilers: All five books**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Yea, pathetic eh?**

**Summery:** **"No, Molly." He looked into her eyes for the first time the entire night. "I've taken care of every other time myself; I will be perfectly alright doing so right now." Ever wondered why Molly trusts Severus more than the rest of the Order does?**

**Series: Sacrificial Lamb**

Other Stories:

Betrayed With a Kiss

Throw Cares Away

**A/N: Alright halfway through a new chapter of Betrayed With a Kiss, this story popped and gave me writers block until I wrote it. The good news? The new chapter of Betrayed With a Kiss is half done! The bad news? I don't know if it'll be finished tonight...**

**Tea and Sympathy**

It was late and Molly was tired, yet she couldn't find the heart to sleep. She was simultaneously worried and angry at her son Percy. He'd disappointed them all by his actions choosing the Ministry over his own family. Yet, he was her son and she loved him too much to hold it against him for long.

He'd left them two weeks ago and the family had been staying at 12 Grimmauld for nearly that long.

And increasing every night with her worry was her inability to sleep. She was worried about Bill and Charlie and the work that kept them so far from home- and closer to the line of fire for it. She was worried about her husband and his perilous job with the Ministry.

She was a mother in a war, and the pain of it all was killing her.

So once again, late into the night she sat at the kitchen table, drinking honey tea and praying that tomorrow would not be the day that she would lose one of her own.

As she silently drank in the tea's warmth she heard the front door shut. Though it was not altogether that close to the kitchen, it seemingly had been shut with the great force that signified that Severus had entered the safe-house. Molly sighed. He was not exactly the man who she would like to see while she was in such a state- in fact very far from it.

It wasn't that she didn't respect the man; she did. It was just... Well he wasn't _exactly_ the most sympathetic man in the world...

She started when he entered the kitchen, looking worn and- was he hurt? A deep glistening stain shone on the front of his robes, even in the darkness of the kitchen. His hair looked to be matted with... blood. And he had a deep cut across his forehead.

"Severus!" she cried in a loud whisper. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he muttered, sitting across from her at the table.

"You're hurt," she pointed out, noticing the irritation that flitted across his face at the words.

"It would seem so."

"Let me take a look at-"

"No, Molly." He looked into her eyes for the first time the entire night. "I've taken care of every other time myself; I will be perfectly alright doing so right now."

Suddenly her heart filled with a deep compassion for him. It wasn't that he didn't want her help; it was that he didn't know how to accept it. He'd been forced to deal with it alone all this time and now he didn't know how to allow another to hold a part of the burden for him. "Let me help you." Her voice was firm and unyielding. She winced at the sadness in his eyes at her words.

"Let me help you, Severus." He slowly nodded and she magicked the lights on in the kitchen to get a better look at his wounds. "Take off your cloak and robes." He stared at her in abject horror, indicating that that was the last thing he would be doing. "I am not trying to seduce or hurt you, Severus," she said in a voice far more patient than she felt.

He followed Molly's instruction, though with a weariness that was strange on him. Underneath he wore black slacks and a silken white shirt that was soaked red with his blood. "What happened to you?" she asked.

"I had a meeting," he told her shortly. So Voldemort took out his frustrations on his followers again, she surmised, though the term 'follower' was used loosely when put in conjunction with Severus Snape.

She conjured bandages, soap, water and the healing cream she kept in her room and began her ministrations. "Is it always like this?"

He hesitated a moment, as if unsure if he could trust her. But it seemed to her that he realized she was one of the few he could, because he spoke. "Sometimes, yes. He was more, ah, angry than usual tonight."

As she finished the cut on his forehead, she motioned him to take his shirt off. Strangely he complied without comment. "Why did you come here? I mean, why not the castle?"

Whether the younger man's wince was from the words or the wound she was cleaning, Molly couldn't tell. "I wanted to sleep it off before..."

Her eyes filled with tears as her mind silently provided the ending for him. _Before Albus forces you to relive it?_ "I'm sorry Severus... I'm so sorry." Her voice cracked as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"You never did anything," he pardoned her calmly.

"But I did- I never trusted you when Albus said you deserved it... I've thought unkindly of you- but you're the reason why we're all still sitting comfortably here. You suffer so we won't. And I never saw it before..." She looked up into his eyes, feeling a strange feeling for him come into her heart.

He offered her a small smile and that little action warmed her heart greater than all the words of kindness in the world could possibly compare to. She finished his chest; then healed a few of the smaller wounds of his with magic.

"Would you like some tea?" she asked as she finished.

"Thank you, Molly, but I really should go... I have a report to make." He stood, offered her another small smile, then turned to leave. "Molly?" he enquired upon reaching the door.

"Yes, Severus?"

"Thank you. For everything."

For minutes after he left, she silently cried, feeling that strange feeling for him surface once again. It was only after her second cup of tea that she realized the deep worry for him that had placed itself right next to her children in her heart.

And she knew. She loved him, as much as any of her own children, though it took this one event for her to notice it. He had given her so much... The assurance that if her children might be on Voldemort's hit list that she would know, the botched raids that had kept her husband and children safe for the time being, and most of all he'd never once asked for anything in return.

He took all their hatred and mistrust and he accepted it. He shouldn't have to, but he did.

And she loved him for it. She sipped her tea once more, having a new child to worry over; though this one was much older than the rest- and much more in the line of fire.

Molly wondered if she'd ever be able to sleep again now.

**-Fin**

**A/N: I really like this one. I've never written story through Molly's POV before... A bit clichéd, yes... What with the meeting and all. Shrug**

**Cookies to anyone who knows the song the title is taken from!**

**Don't forget the review button!**


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